


At Night, By the Sea

by sugacandy



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M, Rinharu Week 2015, holy shit this is late, im so sorry, mook au, red prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-28
Updated: 2015-11-28
Packaged: 2018-05-03 20:07:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5305100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sugacandy/pseuds/sugacandy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rin likes to go down to the sea every night and brood. Haruka is the merman who creepily watches him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	At Night, By the Sea

Rin comes here most nights, after his shift is over- he leaves his cap and shoes on the sidewalk, rolls his trousers up to his knees, and makes his way barefoot across the rockpools to the water’s edge. It’s become a routine of his now: he makes it to the beach just as the sun starts to sink under the horizon, and stays until the stars are marking the map of the sky.   
On this particular night, he’s had a shittier day than normal- Sousuke, his police partner, had gotten into an argument with their commanding officer, and, of-fucking-course, had dragged Rin into it too. This little endeavour had simply resulted in damning any hope Rin had previously had of a pay raise. “Stubborn idiot,” he mutters. “Couldn’t just have let the whole thing go- no, no, he had to get me involved as well.” He kicks a stone into the sea; it smacks the surface with a satisfying ‘plop’. “Remind me to ruin his career next chance I get.”  
He flops down into his normal spot, swishing his feet in the shallows, shifting slightly to get comfy- well, as comfy as he can get on the jagged stone.   
Rin sighs as he feels the tension leak out of him, shoulders relaxing and slumping, his head falling forward to scrutinize the waves lapping at his ankles.   
He stays there for almost two hours, splashing his feet around and occasionally chucking stones into the sea. He doesn’t mind the silence- even though he’s such a ‘loud person’, as Sousuke keeps telling him- in fact, it’s nice to get away from it all.  
While Rin has been philosophizing to the rapidly darkening sea, he has failed to notice the water creeping up to his knees. It’s only when he goes to stand does he realize his predicament- and of course, it’s too late, as his foot skids in a piece of seaweed, sending him flopping, in a most ungainly fashion, into the water.   
When he surfaces, shaking sopping burgundy hair out of his eyes, cursing the gods, Sousuke (he’s not sure why) and pretty much everything else, he finds himself in yet another shitty situation: the current has carried him away from the rocks, and quite frankly, he has no idea where he is.   
It’s also cold.  
Very cold.   
Shit.  
“Help!” he yells, straining his ears for a reply. Nothing comes, of course. “Help! Anyone, even fucking Sousuke!”  
Nope.  
An hour later, and he’s pretty much ready to depart form this life, as he fully expects to before morning. He’s thought of his last will and testament (not that anyone’s going to hear them out here) and has descried to leave everything to Gou, and possibly those ugly vases his grandmother gave him to Sousuke.   
Three hours later, and his situation is significantly worse. He’s a strong swimmer, certainly, but his limbs are starting to seize up, and he can’t feel 90% of his body any more.   
It’s only one hour later when his arms finally cease to work, and his face slips below the surface. Rin stares up at the sky, at the pale light just beginning to creep over the horizon, and wishes that he could see his sister one last time.   
He lets his eyes fall shut, tears mingling with the salty water- and then strong arms are wrapped around him, lifting him back to the surface.   
Rin splutters, gulping lungfuls of air as his face breaks into the open. Turning around, he meets the eyes of his saviour- a guy his own age, probably, dark hair sticking to his neck and unfairly blue eyes looking back at him with a hint of mirth. The guy says something, and holy shit, his voice is hot. Rin probably shouldn’t be thinking about stuff like that considering he recently nearly drowned, but he’s never been one for convention.  
“…hey. Hey!” The guy looks kinda pissed, and Rin’s senses come back enough to realize something…unusual.   
There is something very sleek, very scaly, very…fish holding him afloat.  
He shrieks, and blacks out.  
It must be evening again when he wakes up: his clothes have dried, and he’s lying on the rocks where he fell. He tries to sit up, but immediately falls back, groaning.   
A voice disrupts his internal muttering.  
“You’re awake. Finally.” Giving a little yelp, Rin turns to face the speaker beside him.  
The boy is sitting on the rocks right next to him, still shirtless- and with a tail.  
Wait, a tail?!  
Rin shrieks again, shuffling away. “Wh-what is that? Are you a fucking-no, you’re fucking with me-“  
The guy looks almost bored. “Yes,” he says, flicking the tail lazily. “I’m a merman- I think that’s what you lot call it.”  
Rin faints again.  
After waking up, and actually managing to have a simple conversation with the merman, Rin learns that his name is Haruka Nanase, he’s twenty, and he apparently likes watching Rin suffer.  
“I wanted to see how long you’d last,” he says nonchalantly, as though he wasn’t talking about watching the indignant redhead drown.  
“You-you were there all that time-and I was dying!”  
“You weren’t dying. The water likes you.”  
“I nearly drowned!”  
“Only after four hours. Most people don’t last two.”  
“Oh, so you do this often, do you?”  
“I don’t normally rescue them, don’t worry.”  
Rin sighs, wondering how in the holiest mother of fucks he ended up sitting here with a merman, of all things. Sousuke would have a fit.  
“…Rin? I have to go now.”  
Haruka begins to slide into the water, but before he can leave, Rin grabs his arm. “Hey! Wait. I just- thanks. For rescuing me.”  
The merman looks away, and Rin could swear that there is a shadow of a blush staining his cheeks. “You’re welcome.” He looks down at Rin’s hand holding his, but makes no move to pull away.”  
They stay like that for a minute, until Haru finally lets go and presses something into Rin’s palm. He closes Rin’s fingers aground it, and says, voice slightly less dead than before, “I’ll see you tomorrow night.”  
Rin smiles. “You’ve been watching me come here for ages now, haven’t you?”  
Haru looks away. “No. Don’t flatter yourself, sharkboy.”  
He turns and swims away, faster than any human could manage, tails flicking up showers of droplets that glisten in the dying sunlight.  
Rin opens his hand, and lo and behold, inside it is a pale blue scale. He stands up, and makes his way over to where he left his cap and shoes the previous day.   
He’ll be back tomorrow night, of course.

**Author's Note:**

> I HAVE FINALLY FINISHED THIS. this is a day 2 fic, but i wasn't happy with it so i couldn't bring myself to publish it...  
> sorry it's so late  
> reviews are always welcome! thanks for reading!


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